from Southport Pier to Brighton Pier, drifting towards my 50th year on this planet (Earth)

Reverse Troll: Linslade to Cheddington, 1

Jennie dropped me off at Leighton Buzzard station and I resumed the walk. I joined the Grand Union Canal and walked along the tow path for a while. Round about now one of those weird, meaningless internet things happened. I twittered this photo
with the comment ‘Phwoar, nice bit of hedgelaying south of Leighton’. (Remember, you could be reading gems like this every five minutes, were you to follow me on Twitter.) My friend Martin was amused enough to retweet this with the comment ‘a bad case of bush envy!’, after which it was retweeted again by @hashpolitics, whose mission is ‘Aggregating news about USA politics in 140 chars’ – presumably seeing political significance in the word ‘bush’…

Anyway.

It was a sunny day and it was pleasant strolling along the canal. The countryside offered nice views, with Big Shed warehouses and giant factories shimmering beyond fields with placid cows. I liked this Anubis boat:

and the stretches of woodland:

The canal was busy, with the road, railway and River Ouzel bundled together in the same tract. At one point I could see and/or hear trains, cars, canoes, planes and bikes, all at the same time. It was like the transport hub of the world, but maybe everywhere is these days.

Under the A505 bridge, decorated with ghoulish looming graffiti, it occurred to me that I could squat down and become a troll, sending inflaming messages around the internet from my phone and generally causing mischief and self-perpetuating misery. On the other hand, I could try and spread tiny joys and semi-precious beauties…